Distributed Electronic Commerce System with Centralized Virtual Shopping Carts

1. An electronic commerce system having a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable code, the computer-executable code comprising: a shopping cart module adapted to: store a plurality of virtual shopping carts associated with a customer, the plurality of shopping carts adapted to contain items from a plurality of online merchants; receive an item identified by the customer for purchase from one of the plurality of online merchants; automatically select, from the plurality of shopping carts, at least one of the shopping carts in which to store the item identified for purchase based on a characteristic of the item; and store the item in the selected shopping cart; and a transaction module adapted to: enable the customer to purchase the item contained within the selected shopping cart.

2. The electronic commerce system of claim 1 , wherein the transaction module enables the customer to purchase items stored in a shopping cart in a single transaction.

3. The electronic commerce system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of merchants are located within a plurality of different domains.

4. The electronic commerce system of claim 1 , wherein the shopping cart module allows the customer to manipulate items within a shopping cart.

5. The electronic commerce system of claim 1 , wherein the shopping cart module allows the customer to selectively share a shopping cart with other customers.

6. The electronic commerce system of claim 5 , wherein the shopping cart module allows the other customers to manipulate items within the shopping cart.

7. The electronic commerce system of claim 1 , wherein the shopping cart module deletes a stored shopping cart after an expiration of a specified time interval.

8. The electronic commerce system of claim 1 , wherein the transaction module allows the customer to arrange recurring purchases of items in a stored shopping cart.

9. A computer program product having a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having executable computer program instructions embodied therein for supporting an electronic commerce system, the computer program instructions comprising: a shopping cart module adapted to: store a plurality of virtual shopping carts associated with a customer, the plurality of shopping carts adapted to hold a plurality of items offered by a plurality of different online merchants; receive an item identified by the customer for purchase from one of the plurality of online merchants; automatically select, from the plurality of shopping carts, at least one of the shopping carts in which to store the item identified for purchase based on a characteristic of the item; and store the item in the selected shopping cart; and a transaction module adapted to: enable the customer to purchase the item held within the selected shopping cart.

10. The computer program product of claim 9 , wherein the plurality of merchants are located in a plurality of different domains.

11. The computer program product of claim 9 , wherein the transaction module is further adapted to enable the customer to purchase items in a shopping cart in a single purchase transaction.

12. The computer program product of claim 9 , wherein the shopping cart module is further adapted to provide a link to one of the plurality of shopping carts and wherein the transaction module is further adapted to conduct a purchase transaction with the customer responsive to receiving the link from the customer.

13. The computer program product of claim 12 , wherein the transaction module is further adapted to conduct purchase transactions with a plurality of different customers from whom it receives the link.

14. The computer program product of claim 9 , wherein the shopping cart module is further adapted to provide an interface allowing the customer to manipulate items in the plurality of shopping carts.

15. The computer program product of claim 9 , wherein the shopping cart module is further adapted to delete a stored shopping cart after an expiration of a specified time interval.

16. The computer program product of claim 9 , wherein the transaction module is further adapted to enable the customer to arrange recurring purchases of items in a stored shopping cart.

17. A method comprising: storing, by a computer system, a plurality of virtual shopping carts associated with a customer, the plurality of shopping carts adapted to contain items from a plurality of online merchants; receiving, by the computer system, an item identified by the customer for purchase from one of the plurality of online merchants; automatically selecting by the computer system, from the plurality of shopping carts, at least one of the shopping carts in which to store the item identified for purchase based on a characteristic of the item; and storing, by the computer system, the item in the selected shopping cart; and enabling, by the computer system, the customer to purchase the item contained within the selected shopping cart.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein a purchase of the item and other items in the selected shopping cart is in a single transaction.

19. The method of claim 17 , further comprising: providing a link to one of the plurality of shopping carts; and conducting a purchase transaction with the customer responsive to receiving the link from the customer.

20. The method of claim 19 , further comprising conducting a purchase transaction with an other customer, responsive to receiving the link from the other customer.

21. The method of claim 17 , further comprising providing an interface allowing the customer to manipulate items in one of the plurality of shopping carts.

22. The method of claim 17 , further comprising deleting a stored virtual shopping cart after a period of time.

23. The method of claim 17 , further comprising enabling the customer to arrange recurring purchases of items in a stored shopping cart.

24. The method of claim 17 , further comprising receiving payment information from the customer and to provide providing the payment information to the plurality of merchants.

25. The method of claim 17 , further adapted to designate further comprising designating one of the stored virtual shopping carts as public, wherein a plurality of different customers can access a public virtual shopping cart.

26. The method of claim 25 , wherein the plurality of different customers can manipulate items within the public virtual shopping cart.

27. The electronic commerce system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of virtual shopping carts were created for the customer and wherein the shopping car module is further adapted to allow the customer to move the item among the plurality of shopping carts created for the customer.